There seems to be no disabled clubs in the region that I know off, but there are opportunities for the mentally or physically handicapped to participate in football. I do know of disabled schools in the region that have football teams that play against other disabled schools in the region. They have some sort of league that is played on the Astroturf. It is only seven aside but it is better then nothing. I feel they could be give more opportunities and probably are but I just don’t know about it. There are physically handicapped referees in the area, and there is now a National Multi-disabled Soccer Association which runs across England. I have seen before at a Peterborough United game a handicapped referee reefing a league game. This proves they are given the chance they deserve.
Evaluation Overall I feel the provision for playing football is probably one of the best in the country, as it is the ‘people’s game’ which anyone who wants to can participate in. No matter there level of learning. There are boys and girls leagues at different standards and leagues for disabled. Facilities are not really a problem as they are open to everyone and there has been a lot of help by National lottery funding.
The development of players seems to be lets the provision down as not enough players get through to the academy systems as we need to build up the success of football internationally. This is probably due to the fact that a number of foreign players are being brought in by these professional clubs. There are however teams which show that young players can be brought through, like Manchester United (Beckham, Scholes, Neville G & P, etc), while others like Chelsea buy in their talent from abroad hoping for success. This method seems to be working for Chelsea at present. But this World Cup there is high hopes for England to win it as we have got our strongest team since 1966.
As a country we need more English players to go through the ranks and play professional football in Premiership. This would strengthen the National team even more and will give more job opportunities for English players. With the help this new rule from UEFA, hopefully by 2010 there will be an increase in the number of English players in the Premiership. All of the other English leagues are fine at present. There are not really anymore problems with football in England at present. But one thing we may need to keep any eye on referees as there is starting to be a shortage of them due to the abuse they get.